Friday, January 27, 2012

I'm Naked Under This Photoshop Filter (Not Really)

I've been meaning to make a croqui of myself, a la Ali from Wardrobe Reimagined, for a while, and tonight I finally got around to it. I asked Dear Fiancee to take some pictures of me in my skivvies (quite the hardship, I am assured), and then I ran the Photocopy filter on it in Photoshop and traced the edges. It came out like this:

My croqui is flexing.

It's probably obvious why I lean towards 40s and 50s styles: I have the body for them. Put me in a sixties mod mini and I will look weird and stumpy. Same with a flapper dress, unless it's one of the ones Marilyn Monroe wears in Some Like It Hot (I can't find a good screencap, but they're basically wiggle dresses with a little white piping around the hips to signify "flapper"). The closest I've come to a waistless silhouette is this outfit:

which I actually liked quite a bit, but I'm not sure why. Maybe it's the drama of the proportions (sweater --> skirt --> bare leg --> boot)? Theoretically, you'd think this would look terrible on me, but I felt pretty hot in it.

I have relatively short legs, and a short upper torso, but the waist-to-low-hip area is much longer than average. It's most obvious in photos like this one:

where the (admittedly fairly low) crotch of my pants falls like a foot and a half below my waist.

Anybody else done one of these? Discover anything new about your body? I did learn something from the pictures I took in profile (none of which you will ever, ever see): my posture is terrible. But I already knew that.

I've got a few designs percolating right now (wiggle dresses, blouses, skirts), some of which are ready for preliminary sketches, so I'll print out a few copies of this croqui soon and get sketching! Maybe I'll scan and post them so you all can see my terrible fashion drawing. Live in hope, dear readers.

2 comments:

That's interesting. Based on your silhouette - an enviable waist and slender arms and calves - I would guess you look the best in skirts that begin at the waist and go to the low knee, belted looks, and blouses that have volume or detail, of any sleeve length. With jeans, you may look best in tops that go below the waist eg to the high hip (this is true of almost everyone!). Which is to a certain extent how you dress anyway... you've been vindicated I guess!I don't have the balls to do one of myself though! I'd just actually have proof that I should wear un-revealing things.

Kat, thanks for the compliment! I didn't really learn anything new about my body by doing this, but I did find it unexpectedly useful for fashion sketching. I've been making tons of doodles of new dress and blouse designs. I'd recommend it--it really helped me see how to hang clothes on my frame--you start seeing your body architecturally, sort of, which is kind of liberating!